Shooting Our Mouths Off

James have a long history with Johnny Marr. They’re Manchester music friends who came up around the same time, and their paths have crossed plenty over the years. If you’ve seen the documentary, you’ll know that James famously turned down the chance to tour America with The Smiths because of their commitments to the cult, Lifewave. They did tour together in the UK, though, and since then there’s been plenty more crossover: Johnny’s appeared onstage with James, Tim’s appeared onstage with Johnny, they’ve toured across North America together and they’ve shared a festival bill a few times.

We’re all well aware of how busy it’s been for James this year, and Johnny’s had a pretty hectic one too. He’s played dates in America, China, the UK and across Europe, and in just two weeks he’ll release his new album, The Age of Everything. On top of all that, he’s just sold around 80 of his guitars at Christie’s in London, following an exhibition of the collection that gave fans the chance to see the instruments up close. The 111-lot sale also included amps, harmonicas, gold and silver sales awards and concert posters, including posters from the 1985 UK dates with James mentioned earlier. Thirty-one of the lots were sold for charity, with 100% of their hammer prices split equally between the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and the National Autistic Society – a generous gesture, and one that feels entirely in keeping with Johnny’s character.

And that’s what brings us here. As Johnny fans, we both have our favourites among his guitars. Seeing the collection got us wondering which of those guitars might have a connection to James.

Meat Is Murder Tour, 1985

In 1985, James supported The Smiths across the UK on their Meat Is Murder tour, playing alongside them as the band toured their newly released second album. At the time, Johnny was already closely associated with his Rickenbacker 330 – the guitar had become a big part of the visual identity of The Smiths – but interestingly, it wasn’t his main guitar on this tour. Instead, Johnny was using a selection of other instruments.

1984 Gibson Les Paul Standard – Cherry Red: Johnny bought his Cherry Red Les Paul Standard in autumn 1984, while The Smiths were working on Meat Is Murder, and used it extensively during the recording of the album. It came out on the road with him for the 1985 tour, and at some point was fitted with a Bigsby, giving it the distinctive look it would become known for. Johnny certainly got his money’s worth out of it – he’s said it appeared on more records than any other guitar in his collection, turning up with The The, The Cribs and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Bernard Sumner even borrowed it to record New Order’s ‘Regret’.

1985 Ovation Legend 1867 – Black & Sunburst: Johnny needed an acoustic guitar onstage to replicate the acoustic sound he was using on The Smiths’ records, and in the late ’70s and early ’80s, some of the best guitars for the job were made by Ovation. After hiring an Ovation Glen Campbell for the Hatful of Hollow tour in late 1984, Johnny bought two Ovation Legends ahead of the 1985 Meat Is Murder tour – one black and one sunburst. An Ovation was used for ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ on the leg of the tour that James supported, although it’s not known whether Johnny played one or both of his Legends during these shows. Later that year, when the tour headed to North America – sadly without James – an Ovation was also used for ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’.

Fender Stratocaster – White (c.1962 Body / 1963 Neck): Johnny’s first Stratocaster, this guitar was bought from A1 Repairs in Manchester in mid-1984. Part of its appeal no doubt came from Johnny’s first musical hero, Marc Bolan, who he had seen playing a white Stratocaster when he was young. Johnny used it to record the lead guitar on ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’, as well as the wild lead solo at the end of ‘How Soon Is Now?’ and the muted electric guitar part on ‘Well I Wonder’. It made its first stage appearance when The Smiths mimed ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’ on BBC Two’s Oxford Road Show in February 1985, before Johnny took it out on the first three legs of the Meat Is Murder tour, covering the UK, Europe and North America.

Camp Bestival, 2014

In 2014, James and Johnny found themselves on the same bill at Camp Bestival. During James’ set, Johnny joined them onstage for ‘Come Home’, with his signature Sherwood Green Fender Jaguar in hand. For anyone familiar with Johnny’s solo years, it’s a pretty recognisable guitar – but its story with him had actually started a little earlier.

Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar – Sherwood Green Metallic: The Sherwood Green Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar was first spotted in Johnny’s hands at Electric Picnic on 1st September 2013, before making regular appearances during the second US leg of The Messenger tour that November. By the time of Camp Bestival the following year, it had becoming an increasingly important part of his live shows. As Johnny began to introduce songs from Playland into his sets, the Sherwood Green Jag became his main guitar onstage, and remained a fixture throughout the next couple of years.

Bedford Summer Sessions & Lytham Festival, 2024

In the summer of 2024, Johnny supported James at two festivals – Bedford Summer Sessions and Lytham Festival. While James were performing their orchestral shows, Johnny delivered an electric set packed with solo material alongside Smiths and Electronic songs.

Fender Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar – Comet Sparkle (2017): One of the guitars Johnny played during both sets was his Comet Sparkle Fender Jaguar, a one-off finish developed by Fender around the making of Call the Comet. It made its stage debut at the album’s launch show at Dublin’s Button Factory in May 2018 and became his main guitar throughout the Call the Comet tour and subsequent festival dates. Johnny was still putting it to good use years later, recording the James Bond theme for No Time to Die with it and playing it during Billie Eilish’s performance of the song at the 2020 BRIT Awards. At Bedford and Lytham, it was the Comet Sparkle he reached for when he returned to the stage during James’ set to join them on ‘Laid’.

Martin M-7 Seven-String Prototype: Johnny brought out an early version of his Martin M-7 seven-string for the acoustic section of his set at Bedford, several months before the finished signature model was officially announced. Developed with Martin, the unusual setup adds an octave G string, giving it some of the shimmer of a 12-string while retaining the feel of a six-string. He used it for ‘Somewhere’ and ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’, before bringing it out again the following night at Lytham Festival for the same two songs.

North American Tour, 2024

Summer was just the beginning of Johnny and James’ 2024 journey. That fall, the pair embarked on a co-headlining tour across North America, and, to no one’s surprise, Johnny brought along an incredible collection of gorgeous guitars.

Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar – Fever Dream Yellow: Johnny originally got this guitar in Olympic White in 2021, before having Michael Eastwood of Brian Eastwood Guitars refinish it in yellow while he was making Fever Dreams Pts 1-4. He wanted it to look like the sort of guitar an amateur guitarist in America might have customised themselves in the mid-1970s, and Fender eventually matched the colour and released Fever Dream Yellow as a limited-edition finish. It quickly became one of Johnny’s main guitars of the Fever Dreams era, featuring extensively on the album and becoming his go-to live Jaguar for much of the next three years. After briefly taking a back seat to his Comet Sparkle in early 2024, it was back in action for the North American tour, including on ‘The Passenger’, when Tim regularly joined Johnny onstage for the Iggy Pop cover.

Fender Jaguar – Sherwood Green Metallic / Black Pickguard: Similar to Johnny’s original Sherwood Green Metallic Jaguar, though this one is paired with a black pick-guard instead of cream and has a different tremolo-arm tip, giving it a noticeably different look. As the tour took place after the release of Marr’s Guitars, and this guitar wasn’t included in the auction, it’s possible that he hired it specifically for the tour.

Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar – Lake Placid Blue: The Lake Placid Blue Johnny Marr Jaguar started out as a one-off made especially for Johnny. He’d wanted a blue version of his signature Jag for some time, inspired by his original 1963 Lake Placid Blue Jaguar, which he’d played during his years with Modest Mouse and The Cribs. In 2017, he asked Fender to make his signature model in the same finish, and the result quickly became one of his favourites. Fender then released Lake Placid Blue as a limited edition in 2018, around the release of Call the Comet, turning Johnny’s one-off into a production model for a limited run of around 500 guitars.

Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar – Olympic White: Olympic White was one of the two original finishes available when Johnny’s signature model launched in 2012, alongside Metallic KO, and became a big part of the early days of his solo career. He used his white Jags extensively while recordingThe Messenger and on the tours that followed, with this particular one becoming his main guitar for the later UK and US dates in 2013. As a result, the Olympic White Jag became one of the guitars most closely associated with that first chapter of Johnny going solo.

Martin M-7 Johnny Marr: Johnny continued using an M-7 during the North American tour, bringing it out for ‘Somewhere’ and ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’. By this point, the finished signature model was only weeks away from being unveiled, with Martin officially announcing the M-7 later that month.

If you want to know more about Johnny’s guitars, grab yourself a copy of Marr’s Guitars, his 2023 book that documents the guitars of his career so far.

You can listen back to our podcast episode about Johnny here, where we travel back to 1985, when James supported The Smiths, and follow the story right through to his European tour last year. Along the way, we chat about how we each discovered his music, our favourite tracks, his remarkable list of collaborations, and what might be next for him.

Photo Disclaimer: All professional images are by Pat Graham and were taken for Marr’s Guitars. Copyright remains with the respective photographers and rights holders. If you are a rights holder and would like an image credited differently or removed, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to do so. Unless otherwise credited, all other photographs are Laura’s own.